Just to share personal experience: I have a spare hard drive in my computer of ample size compared to my primary. I created a script as follows:
#!/bin/bash
rsync -a --progress --delete /home/jason/ /media/storage/localbackup/
I named it "backup" and ran sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/backup (where the file is stored).
That command made it executable.
Then I edited crontab to run "backup" as user "jason" (who also owns the file) @ 4 AM and 4 PM.
So when my hard drive dies, like my lovely brand new Seagate did last month, data-wise : I'm covered.
